Patent Literature 1: JP 2003-006578 A
Access control systems are conventionally known to use contactless IC cards for access controls of entering and exiting facilitates, such as offices, warehouses, hospitals (for example, see Patent Literature 1). Such access control systems require each user to only bring his/her contactless IC card in proximity of the card reader installed adjacent to a door of a room to activate wireless communication to immediately identify the user, thereby unlocking the electric lock to permit the user to enter the room.
Some access control systems are further known to install a press-button switch unit on the front face of the card reader. The switch unit is intended to add a function to the card reader, such as a switch for designating a security control associated with security instruments. Each user presses the press-button switch unit and brings the contactless IC card close to the card reader, activating the security control.
Such conventional card readers in some cases respond to the needs of each customer for the usability, such as changing positions of press-button switch units, adding new press-button switch units, thereby involving custom-made design changes. The design changes typically include changes of housing or internal wiring for installing switch units, unfortunately leading to difficulties in re-designing the intensity, waterproofness, and reading performance including reading distance and communication success ratio, against the housing of the reader.